King-Size Samsung Smartphone Chokes iPhone

Samsung is still the world’s No. 1 phone maker, says Gartner but newcomers Lenovo and Nokia driven by Microsoft made massive gains in Q3.

Phone king is still increasing shares over the iPhone – but Chinese brand Lenovo is on the ascension nabbing the No. 3 smartphone spot, edging out LG, last quarter.

The launch of the 5.7″ Samsung Note 3 reaffirms the Koreans as the leader of king sized smartphones which it pioneered, says analysts, along with 5″ Galaxy S4. Note 3 already sold 5 million since its recent launch.

Mobile phone sales are to reach 1.81 billion in 2013, as smartphone demand soars, accounting for over half of all phones sold.

Image: phones arena

While Samsung’s growth was flat in Q3, selling over 80 million smartphones or 32% of the market, it still increased its lead over arch iOS rival, called a “two horse race” between the duo.

Apple, on the other hand, sold over 30 million, with a 12% share, or one third of Samsung’s huge share, with analysts warning iPhone 5s and 5c pricing is too high.

Gartner analyst, Anshul Gupta, believes the price difference between the iPhone 5c and 5s is not enough, where prices are skewed by telco subsidies, “to drive users away from the top model”.

“While the arrival of the new iPhones 5s and 5c had a positive impact on overall sales, such impact could have been greater had they not started shipping late in the quarter.”

PC giant Lenovo now has 5% of the smartphone market – with a massive 85% growth in a year.

It owns a massive share of the Chinese smartphone market (95%) and last week, revealed plans to attack the smartphone market, globally.

Who’s The Winner?

Google Android OS is also killing it – largely to do with Samsung success – 82% of all smartphones globally, leaving Apple on just 12%.

But the smartphone race may not be a two horse race for much longer.

The winner of this quarter is Microsoft which grew 123%, say Gartner – driven by demand for Nokia Lumia’s smartphones, pushing the Finnish giant to No. 8 in the smartphone race.

It sold 63 million devices during the quarter.

Microsoft acquisition of Nokia’s, which “will unify effort and help drive appeal of Windows ecosystem,” said Gupta.

The Asia Pacific mobile market also grew strongly as 455.6 million mobile were sold, globally, in Q3.